Over the years, the placement and positioning of antennae and dishes to receive electronic signals from signal or relay sources has come to be recognized as an important element in communications reception systems. The employment of antennae and dishes by individuals has become increasingly common with the advent of services that provide TV and other electronic signals via not only transmission towers and related structures but also via satellite.
As individuals and smaller businesses, in addition to governmental organizations and larger corporate organizations and communications entities, have increasingly engaged and contracted with various communications providers for the provision and/or interactive exchange of communications signals, the placement and appearance of antennae and dishes at or near homes and businesses has become an increasingly common sight. Depending upon geographic and environmental conditions, different provisions have had to be made for the placement and positioning of the antennae, dishes, and/or transmitters required to be utilized for the reception and/or transmission of signals, with accurate and clear lines of sight typically being required for access to or with a signal source or relay, including one or more satellites passing overhead.
It has been found convenient in the reception of electronic signals and transmissions to be able to mount the antennae and dishes intended to receive such signals and transmissions upon tubular poles that typically are installed extending generally vertically above a base surface in which a base portion of the pole is installed and anchored. Such tubular poles, which are most often of cylindrical cross-section, are generally relatively economical in cost, yet are strong enough, while remaining relatively lightweight, so as to be able to readily accommodate and support the installation upon the pole at or near the upper portion thereof of the requisite antennae and dishes for communications systems such as satellite and TV communications systems, especially when the antennae and dishes cannot be conveniently directly mounted upon a house or other structure and may need to be positioned at a distanced location for clear access positioning.
In the installation and use of such a pole, a hole three feet deep or so is often formed in the ground to receive such a pole, the bottom end portion of such pole is then positioned within the hole, with the upper portion of pole projecting generally vertically upward from the base surface, and the hole is filled so as to maintain the pole in an upright, typically generally vertical, position. Often, concrete or a like material is poured or installed around the erect pole to provide a more solid base in which the pole will remain locked. The resulting concrete slab or footing is intended to and often serves to better lock the base portion of the pole in place within the hole.
Once the pole has been so installed within a base area, an antenna, dish, or other device may be conveniently mounted upon the installed pole for use. However, the antennae and dishes so mounted upon installed mounting poles must be so mounted, either in a fixed alignment position or a base reference position on the pole, to properly align the antennae and dishes to receive the desired signals. In some instances, a mounted dish may be designed to be movable, such as by a positioning control and/or motor, to be able to properly align and realign the dish to be able to access signals from different sources, such as different satellites, but relatively precise alignment for a given source is generally nevertheless required regardless of the source, whether the alignment is set independently for a given source or is based upon a base reference alignment.
A number of communications services and providers, including services such as Dish, DirecTV, Wild Blue, and Hughes Net, to name but a few, presently offer TV and other communications services to subscribers, and offer and/or require the use of particular equipment and devices for the reception and/or transmission of signals specific to their service. Many provide and utilize cylindrically tubular mounting poles for the placement of requisite antennae and dishes, with such mounting poles designed to have specific characteristics, such as specific outer diameters.
Many of such mounting poles, despite differing outer diameters, have come to have somewhat standardized lengths, typically approximately 72 inches long or longer, and are intended to have a lower end thereof installably mounted in a concrete or like base. Some of such mounting poles, especially those intended for use in northern climates, are of even longer lengths, such as approximately 96 inches long, so that the lower end of the pole can readily extend to below the frost line.
Although no standardization of dimensions for mounting poles exists, many users and suppliers have found it convenient to utilize various gauges and diameters. Gauges such as 9, 14, 16, and 18 have been used. But not limited to these gauges. Diameters include 1.660″, 2.000″, 2.375″, but not limited to these.
Such mounting poles are generally intended to be erected to project generally vertically upwardly from the base areas in which they are anchored and to be positioned at geographic locations where antennae and dishes can be mounted on them so as to be alignable in a clear line of sight with the signal source or relay from which the communications signal will be available.
Depending upon the service provider and the signals to be received, alignment with one or more different signal sources or relays may be necessary or desired. In any event, accurate alignment is an important factor for the reception of the desired signals.
Even with the pole inserted in a concrete slab or footing to try to lock it in position, such a pole, because of its generally round or circular cross section, is subject to spin or rotation, especially over time. Such spinning or rotation may be caused by freezing and thawing of the earth. Another cause may be wind, or other weather related factors. Generally, the occurrence of even a small amount of spin or rotation may be sufficient to affect the positioning of the antennae or dishes relative to precision alignment required for the accurate reception of signals by such antennae or dishes. In such an event, the reception may become degraded, if not totally disrupted, and a service call and a visit by a technician to realign the antennae and dishes will often become necessary, with resultant inconvenience, often involving loss of signal for some time, and expense.
To try to address and maintain proper alignment of antennae and dishes, a variety of mounting systems have been advanced, some of which include the mounting of the antennae upon structures other than poles so as to try to eliminate or obviate pole rotation factors while others of which, including for reasons of cost and simplicity, continue to employ tubular poles but attempt to minimize rotation thereof by employing accompanying bracing devices or stays or guides or like constructions therewith.
In some instances, stays and guy wires have been attached to the erected poles to try to minimize rotation. Such approaches, however, are typically site specific, and therefore generally labor intensive.
In other instances, in attempts toward greater standardization and towards cost minimization, anchoring fins have been welded to the tubular poles near to bottom ends of the poles prior to the placement of the bottom ends into concrete bases in the hope that such welded fins would hold the poles in place against rotation. In still other instances, instead of using welded fins, laterally extending holes have been drilled through the walls of the tubular poles near to their bottoms end and rebar has been inserted through the holes to project laterally beyond the outer diameters of the poles. The rebar projections were intended to help lock the poles in position in the concrete base to prevent rotation of the pole. Such approaches at standardization, while somewhat effective, remain more labor intensive than desirable, however, and result in pole products that are more difficult to safely ship and handle, especially because of the resultant sharp edges that can cause serious injury in storage and shipping.
Consequently, because of the higher costs often associated with other mounting systems, and the labor expenses and safety issues encountered with certain other approaches, as well as the convenience and simplicity of pole mounting systems, most users continue to utilize standard mounting poles and to accept the inconvenience and expense associated with possible recurring misalignments resulting from pole rotations as undesirable conveniences that need to be tolerated.
Consequently, there has remained a need and desire for an inexpensive, improved antennae and dish mounting system that obviates the necessity for service resulting from non-alignment of such antennae or dishes due to spin or rotation of poles upon which they are mounted.